


Champagne

by niigoki



Series: Cranberry Juice [2]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Christmas Party, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21942391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niigoki/pseuds/niigoki
Summary: That’s all she really wanted; to spend Christmas with the people she loved the most. It’s this thought that pulls at her heartstrings.
Relationships: Im Nayeon/Myoui Mina
Series: Cranberry Juice [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579951
Comments: 17
Kudos: 467





	Champagne

This type of weather is perfect, Chaeyoung thinks. The air is chilly enough to require a heavy coat and at least a scarf, but the sun above graces the ground with its warmth for a couple of hours before clouds cover it again. The birds apparently enjoyed the rays of sunlight too, flying around excitedly. Some bathed in it, landing on the grass. Chaeyoung smiles.

The park is comfortable for a lazy day such as today. Parents take their kids out to play and eat steamed sweet potatoes, as winter demands. Chaeyoung follows a few people with her eyes and has an idea.

“You want some potatoes?” She turns her face to the left, asking her best friend.

“Oh, yes please!” Dahyun’s smile is contagious and it feels like old times. “And some water?”

“Gotcha.” Chaeyoung smiles back and gets up from the wooden bench, stretching her rusty muscles. With a satisfied grunt, she walks.

Five steps in and she turns around slightly to check on Dahyun. A habit that’s been hard to break since… well, since she remembered. Dahyun just blinks and waves a little. Chaeyoung smiles again, and keeps walking.

Chaeyoung wonders if this will ever go away. The way her heart feels heavy and her stomach churns every time she has to leave Dahyun’s side. A part of her is convinced that this has to do with the fact that their souls were apparently bound to each other for eternity, but rationally, she knew it made no sense. Chaeyoung never felt like that when she had to stay away from Mina or Nayeon or Jeongyeon, and they too were connected to each other in the same way.

Perhaps it was the guilt, then, of being responsible for the state Dahyun was in. But again, she wasn’t the one who blew her legs up. Technically, Dahyun was to blame for that.

Just thinking about it made Chaeyoung sweat. She could see everything so clearly, still. The monstrous form of a girl who wouldn’t die no matter what, black ooze covering her severed limbs, a hand through _her_ torso—

“ _Stop it_.” Chaeyoung stops walking and puts a hand to her chest, trembling. “…She’s gone. Stop it.”

She breathes heavily and shakes her head. These images had been part of her nightmares for months, but she needed to get a grip. What did her therapist say, again?

_Focus on the task at hand._

What was she doing?

“Potatoes for Dahyun.” Chaeyoung mumbles through shaky breaths and looks back up again. The steamed sweet potatoes’ stand was close. “Okay,” With a deep breath, she calms down. “Two potatoes, please. Two potatoes, please…” She keeps muttering until she reaches the stand.

After a while, she’s back by Dahyun’s side, and it’s like the shadow is lifted from her heart. “Here, got one for me too.”

“Thanks!” Dahyun takes a bite before Chaeyoung can warn her how hot they are and burns her tongue. “Ouch, ouch, ouch.”

“ _Steamed_ potatoes, dumbass.” Chaeyoung giggles.

“I know, but they’re so good.” Dahyun tries to speak with her tongue dangling between her teeth. She blows the steam for a second, then tries again. The taste floods her tongue and she groans in delight. “Oh, man… I’m gonna cry.”

It’s meant to be a joke, but it stings a little. It reminds Chaeyoung that her friend was a vampire for a while. Reminds her that she couldn’t eat normal food, and now that she’s human again, it’s like her tongue is remembering tastes as if it was the first time. Chaeyoung would never know what that was like.

Her eyes go out of focus and Dahyun’s voice pull her back to reality. “Chaeng? You okay?”

“Huh?” Chaeyoung blinks. “O-oh, yeah. Just… It’s still hot for me.” She blows her food to distract herself.

But Dahyun isn’t a stranger to her body language. “Bad thoughts?”

Chaeyoung frowns and doesn’t answer, taking a bite. It’s not as hot as she thought. “I’m fine, Dubs.”

“Okay.” Dahyun says in a low tone and smiles. “How’s your tater tots?”

Chaeyoung snorts at the term. “Tater hot.”

“Dork.”

They eat in silence after that and Dahyun is the first to finish. She crumples the paper bag and looks around for a trash can. There is one not far away. “Bet I can score from here.”

Chaeyoung grins. “Bet you can’t.”

Dahyun moves her arms left and right, like she’s running on a basketball field, puffing air dramatically. “She runs, and she bends her knees, and she throws!” She tries to throw it precisely on the trashcan, but fails miserably. “Score!”

“No, you didn’t!” Chaeyoung laughs and pushes her slightly, making Dahyun’s wheelchair slide to the side. “Littering is a crime.”

“Please officer, have mercy!” Dahyun puts her hands together as if she’s asking to be cuffed.

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes and gets up to throw the paper bag where it belongs. “If any one of us is going to be arrested, that’ll be me.”

Dahyun drops the act, frowning slightly. She knew Chaeyoung was going through something today, from the way she had frozen on her way to the sweet potato stand, to the self-deprecating jokes. Chaeyoung had been hit hard by everything that happened. They all had, but she was still dealing with the moral dilemma and regret of stealing blood bags from the hospital, not to mention the loss of her eternal soulmate.

This last thought hurts like Dahyun’s burned tongue, but she brushes it aside. Chaeyoung said that she was okay, but Dahyun couldn’t help but to worry. She would always worry.

When Chaeyoung comes back, her eyes are distant. Dahyun moves her wheelchair a little closer and places a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I think we should.” Dahyun pulls back. “I’m all for respecting your limits, but we’re going to see the others today. If you’re not feeling well, we can cancel—”

“ _No._ ” Chaeyoung raises her voice, then bites her lower lip. “Sorry. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.”

Dahyun just smiles softly. “It’s okay.” She hesitates, but slides her arm down to take Chaeyoung’s hand in hers. They’re both wearing winter gloves. “You know that no one expects you to be all smiles, right? I’m pretty sure we’re not the only ones who went to therapy after the whole… thing.”

Chaeyoung squeezes her hand out of reflex and sighs. “I know. It’s just… it’s Christmas, I don’t want to ruin our party. But I keep… thinking about stuff. Today more than usual, for some reason.”

Dahyun rubs her thumb slowly over Chaeyoung’s hand. “Well, of course you are. It’s Christmas. Everyone should be together, but… some of us are not.”

The words are like hot knife into Chaeyoung’s heart and she turns her face away without a word. Dahyun sighs, but keeps holding her. Chaeyoung doesn’t move away.

She lifts her eyes towards the kids playing on the playground and her voice sounds tired. “I keep thinking… if we’ll ever meet her again. In this life.”

Dahyun follows her gaze and smiles weakly. “Like a kid?”

“Yeah.” Chaeyoung’s eyes blur but she rubs them. “It’s just wishful thinking, though. Our souls need to be reborn at the same time.”

This time, Dahyun feels a little numb. “To guide the next Vessel to Nayeon, huh…”

“I hope…” Chaeyoung stops, a knot in her throat. “I hope we’ll be happy? In our next life. I hope she’ll be happy.” Her body feels a thousand years old. “She deserves to be happy for once.”

Dahyun agrees.

The sunlight shifts, bathing both girls in it. A bird flies from its nest for the first time, wonky and unsteady, and ends up landing on Dahyun’s leg. She widens her eyes as the little bird looks at her, then hops towards Chaeyoung’s thigh. Its black eyes stare right into their souls. Then, it flies away again.

It’s Dahyun who breaks the spell with a breathless chuckle. “She’ll be fine.”

\--

This was extremely awkward.

“This is awkward.” Jeongyeon says, her one eye closed as her sister applies makeup on it. “I’ve never put on makeup in my life.”

“One, that’s a lie.” Seungyeon mutters, focused on the eyeliner. “Two, shut up, this is the delicate part.”

“What’s the point,” Jeongyeon keeps talking. “The girl with the eyepatch wearing makeup on her one good eye??”

“Oh my god, why are you insufferable.” Seungyeon finishes and turns her torso awkwardly to the side, reaching for a nice dark red eyeshadow. “We never had the chance to do this before, let me play around with you a little. You’re so pretty and you never show anyone.”

“I don’t need to show anyone anything.” Jeongyeon sounds upset, but deep down she’s giddy like a kid.

It’s been really weird trying to get used to a normal life. Once the vampires vanished from sight, the hunters were no longer needed, so Mr. Moon was losing hair from the stress that came with reallocating each and every hunter under his jurisdiction to new sectors and jobs. Many of Jeongyeon and Seungyeon’s colleagues ended up in special task forces aimed at dealing with heavy crimes from the underworld – the Mafia and whatnot. Since hunters were trained to handle creatures much stronger and faster than humans, their success rate as of late had been astronomical. Even a Mafia boss seemed like a joke compared to vampires.

As for the sisters, they received some special treatment after Jeongyeon recovered. Upon returning, she had locked Mr. Moon inside his office to explaining everything.

Absolutely everything.

From the Eye to the Vessel, from Jihyo breaking the cycle to Nayeon restoring it. From Jeongyeon’s part in all of it as one of the Seven Souls, to the disappearance of vampires being the Vessel’s wish.

She showed Mr. Moon her father’s compiled journal as one more proof of everything, but the man didn’t really need it. He believed her. She was his most prized hunter, after all.

After that, Mr. Moon asked her what she planned to do, and the answer was immediate.

“I’d like to retire and spend some normal days with my sister, sir.”

The deal was sealed, and the Yoo sisters left the police department with a hefty amount in their bank accounts for the rest of their lives. Mr. Moon thought they deserved at least that, for ending the vampiric cycle forever.

Now, Jeongyeon and Seungyeon had the rest of their lives to find something they really enjoyed doing. Apparently, for Seungyeon, it was makeup.

“You should become a makeup youtuber, or something.” Jeongyeon mutters with a ghost of a smile as Seungyeon brushes some eyeshadow over her eyelid.

“Hmm, maybe I will.” It was mostly a joke. “There. See what you think.”

Jeongyeon opens her eye and turns to the mirror. “Wow.” She frowns. “You did this?”

“What— of course I did! Rude ass.”

“It’s good. Since when are you so good at this?” Jeongyeon’s smirk is contagious but Seungyeon just flicks a finger on her forehead. “Ouch.”

“I’ve had time to practice. It’s nice to feel pretty, isn’t it?”

“Hm, I guess.” Jeongyeon tries to sound detached, but she’s really happy her sister found something to fill the void. “Yeah, it feels really great. Thanks, Seung.”

“Good. Now move, it’s my turn.” She moves her motorized wheelchair towards the mirror, nearly running over her sister. Jeongyeon complains when she has to get up quickly and nearly trips on one of her cats.

“Watch it, I almost squashed Sana!” Jeongyeon takes the cat into her arms, but the animal doesn’t feel like being carried around and bites her arm slightly. “Ouch! Fine, go away.” Jeongyeon puts the cat back down. “Now I remember why I named you that.”

“Because she’s your favorite?” Seungyeon teases, applying some lip gloss.

“Because she’s a bitch.”

“And your favorite.”

“Whatever.”

Jeongyeon walks towards an empty chair in their room and waits for Seungyeon to be ready. This Christmas party was the first opportunity she had to introduce her sister to Nayeon and the others after telling her about everything, and she was nervous for some reason. Seungyeon had believed her, but seeing the Vessel up close would probably blow her mind a little. Jeongyeon still feels a bit dizzy when she thinks about everything they had been through this year.

Her mind wanders off to Mina and she smiles. At least some things were still familiar.

A tiny meow catches her attention.

“And what about you, Noodle The Third?” Jeongyeon pats her lap and the cat jumps on it, purring and curling into a tiny ball. “Do you think Seungyeon is annoying?” The cat just purrs. “Yeah, me neither.”

\--

“Mina, help me put this up.” Nayeon asks, holding one side of the string of words that said ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ in bright red. Mina walks into the living room with a tray of snacks that she had brought from the kitchen and smiles.

“Hold on,” She puts down the tray on the table and moves. “Here.”

The words look a bit crooked on the wall, but overall the decoration is phenomenal. Little tiny Santa hats could be found on every corner, including on Nayeon’s head, and her tree was so big that the tip reached the ceiling and bent a little over of the couch. It was making a tiny mess of leaves, but Nayeon didn’t mind.

The cups were all green and red, the paper napkins had reindeers drawn on them and Christmas lights adorned the walls inside, creating a cozy atmosphere. Nayeon had her fireplace going and the TV on the living room was on, playing some random Christmas karaoke contest.

“How’s dinner?” Nayeon asks, jumping up and down towards the kitchen.

Mina follows her. “All good. Although I think we ordered too much kimchi.”

“Nonsense.” Nayeon stops and scoots closer to one of the sauces they had ordered. Slowly she dips one finger in it and licks it, only to be overcome with nausea. “Bad idea, bad idea.”

Mina sighs and fills a cup of cranberry juice for her. “I don’t know why you keep doing this when you know it’ll taste horrible for you.”

Nayeon downs the cup in one go. “I don’t know man, I’m the Vessel, I keep surprising myself. I thought I’d be able to do something cool with these new Eye powers.”

“You literally ended the existence of all vampires in the world.”

“Which is cool, yes, but I miss kimchi and pork sauce.”

Mina only chuckles and presses a kiss to her cheek. “You’re probably the best and worst Vessel in history of humankind.”

“After everything we went through, I’ll take this compliment.” Nayeon melts at the way Mina is looking at her and groans. “Stop being lovely I just put lipstick back on.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mina says innocently, slowly wrapping her arms around Nayeon’s waist. Nayeon puts her cup down and brings her arms around Mina’s neck, noses brushing.

“You know, I think the god had it all wrong. The Vessel isn’t the most powerful person in the world.”

“Why is that?” Mina asks.

“Because you have this Vessel wrapped around your finger.” Nayeon leans in as Mina giggles, and the sound is heaven to her ears. She smells Mina, feels Mina around her, and all she thinks about is Mina, Mina, Mina.

It’s the only way she can muffle the countless versions of herself in her head, lately.

The doorbell rings before they can kiss and Nayeon pulls away. “They’re here!”

Mina pouts, but lets her go with an affectionate squeeze to her arms. “I’ll bring the rest of the snacks.”

Nayeon jumps towards the door. “Coming!”

On the other side, she’s met with Chaeyoung and Dahyun’s smiley faces. “Hey.”

“Chaeng, Dahyun! Come in.” Nayeon hugs them before letting them inside, then she yells. “Mina, Chaeng and Dahyun are here!”

Chaeyoung pushes Dahyun inside and both girls stop to gape at the decoration. “Wow, I’ve never seen anything so… Christmas-y.”

“Did you like it? I spent the whole day putting this together.” Nayeon says with both hands behind her back.

“I love it.” Dahyun smiles, then moves closer to the tree, looking up. “That’s a big-ass tree.”

Chaeyoung nods and takes a picture with her phone.

Right then, Mina walks in with a smile and a tray of cookies. “Hey, guys.”

“Nayeon! You never told us you invited the famous idol Myoui Mina to your party??” Dahyun says with a fake surprised voice and Mina only laughs. “If I knew I would’ve brought my album for her to sign!”

“Hey, why is she the famous idol? I’m part of the duo too!” Nayeon complains, crossing her arms.

“Mina is her bias.” Chaeyoung explains and Nayeon actually sounds offended by this.

“Why is Mina everyone’s bias?? She’s my mom’s bias, she’s Jeongyeon’s bias, she was Sana’s—” The rest of the sentence gets caught in her throat and a sudden rush of sadness runs through her. It hurts her never-beating heart more than she realizes.

The silence is chilling even with the fire burning behind them and Mina is the one who tries to lift the mood back up. “You’re my bias, if that counts for something.”

Nayeon appreciates the effort. “That’s cheating, I’m your wife.”

“Worth a try.”

Everyone giggles and Nayeon feels a bit lighter again. Then, she frowns. “Wait, who is your Vermillon bias, Chaeng?”

Chaeyoung sweats and scoots away. “Uh… you see...”

“Unbelievable.”

The doorbell rings again and Nayeon pretends to forgive Chaeyoung for a moment. She giddily opens the door and her warm smile turns into a surprised look when she looks at Jeongyeon and she’s… “You’re wearing makeup?”

Jeongyeon blushes. “Don’t make a big deal out of it.” She moves to the side and reveals her sister behind her. “Also, it’s her fault.”

As Nayeon and Jeongyeon laugh together, Seungyeon takes a moment to look at the woman in front of her. So, this was the famous Vessel. The most powerful being in the world. A secret so well-kept that not even the existence of vampires managed to break it to the world.

She looks like a normal girl.

But then again, so did Jihyo at some point.

“Nice to met you.” Nayeon’s voice brings Seungyeon back to her senses. She has one hand out and Seungyeon smiles, shaking it.

“Nice to meet you too.” But unlink Jihyo, this girl didn’t make every single hair on Seungyeon’s body stand up from anxiety. She wasn’t a monster whose life was forfeit from the beginning.

The sisters walk in and Jeongyeon introduces Seungyeon to everyone. Dahyun immediately makes a joke about being wheeled buddies, which is met with a groan from everyone with a lick of common sense. Seungyeon _did_ laugh.

Mina notices that Jeongyeon is sort of avoiding her, so she walks up to her with hands on her hips. “Forgetting someone?”

Jeongyeon turns her head so Mina could only see her eyepatch and clears her throat. “Hey, Mina.”

When Mina tries to move to her other side, Jeongyeon turns again, until both girls are walking in circles around each other in the middle of the living room. They only stop when the silence becomes obvious and everyone stares.

“What are you doing?” Dahyun asks.

“She’s avoiding me!” Mina blames her. “Seung, tell Jeong to stop avoiding me.”

“She’s just shy because she’s pretty and she knows it.” Seungyeon says with her mouth already full of cookies.

“What does that m— you’re wearing _makeup_?” Mina cuts her sentence short when she finally gets to look at Jeongyeon’s good eye.

The ex-hunter sighs, her face red. “Yes, I’m wearing makeup. _Against my will_.” She emphasizes, staring daggers at her sister, who is too busy eating to care.

Mina can’t help but to smile. “You look so pretty.”

And dammit if it doesn’t make Jeongyeon’s heart leap a beat, even now. She softens her expression and accepts defeat. “Thanks. You’re not bad yourself.”

Everyone finally settles in and the conversation keeps going normally. Nayeon brings out some drinks and the rest of the snacks, Mina sits on the couch close to Jeongyeon and Seungyeon, and Dahyun keeps quiet as soon as she realizes that the karaoke contest she likes so much is playing on TV. Chaeyoung keeps taking pictures of everyone, Nayeon notices. She doesn’t ask, though.

Then, dinner is served. Nayeon and Mina put the dishes on the table and everyone moves to grab a plate. Jeongyeon teases Mina’s lack of cooking skills when she realizes that all the food was ordered and not prepared, which prompts Mina to smack her arm and expose her ex-girlfriend’s own negligence when it came to cooking. Seungyeon sides with Mina and suddenly it’s a war against Jeongyeon’s pride.

Dahyun nearly cries with each and every bite; when Chaeyoung scolds her for being dramatic, Mina defends her, saying that yes, food does seem more appetizing now that they can taste again.

Nayeon has to ruin the mood with a “Can’t relate.”

But they’ve been there too many times, so everyone laughs. The only person who finds it awkward is Seungyeon.

Nayeon watches as her guests eat, then smiles at everyone sitting around the table. It’s such a cozy Christmas party. That’s all she really wanted; to spend time with the people she loved the most.

It’s this thought that pulls at her heartstrings.

She looks at the empty seats on the other end of the table and feels like breaking a little. Three empty chairs. Despite her best efforts to be a good host, Nayeon couldn’t help but to look down and sigh.

And being left alone with her own thoughts for too long was extremely dangerous for the Vessel. In seconds, she could hear their voices clearly in her head, the voices of the three people she left behind. Looking up, Nayeon could picture them sitting on the empty chairs.

Sana sounded cheerful and sarcastic as always, saying something about the food being cold; Momo was by her side, her gentle aura flooding the room as she gently pinched Sana’s sides and told her not to complain after being invited to such a nice dinner; Tzuyu laughed at them quietly, eating slowly, but with gusto.

And Nayeon tries, she really tries so hard to picture a fourth person by their side. But Jihyo’s face is a blur.

She hadn’t told anyone this, but she couldn’t remember what Jihyo looked like for the life of her. It’s like her brain – the Eye – had erased her existence from this world, as a punishment for her greed. Nayeon never felt comfortable with this situation.

At times, she felt like her memories were a jumble; the past and present mixing uncomfortably inside her. Sometimes she would look at other people on the street and see faces that were so familiar it hurt, but she had no idea who they were. Maybe just people who looked like friends she had in the past. A past that wasn’t hers.

Nayeon laid awake at night sometimes, wondering if she would go crazy, the longer she stuck around this life.

The only person who managed to ground her was Mina. Every time Mina spoke, Nayeon came back to the present in a flash. It was like magic.

Maybe that was Mina’s real role. Not to keep the Vessel alive, but to keep her sane.

Nayeon’s eyes drift to the empty seats again, and ghost Sana is now staring at her with a kind smile. Nayeon’s heart drops to her stomach.

Ghost Sana mutters something.

_“Nay.”_

“What…?” Nayeon mumbles.

“Nayeon?” Another voice. Mina.

“H-huh?” Nayeon blinks out of her daze. The three ghosts were gone, and she was back to the dinner table.

“Everything okay?” Mina is next to her, staring with a worried expression.

“Yeah…” Nayeon rubs her eyes and turn to her fully. “Yeah.” She stops and Mina looks gorgeous, and she loves her. She presses forward, stealing a kiss. “I’m okay.”

Mina is surprised, but smiles back. “Okay.”

\--

It’s almost midnight when they finish dinner. The conversation got so lively that no one really wanted to get up, but at some point Jeongyeon said her legs were cramping. She wasn’t accustomed to stay seated for so long.

Nayeon takes the plates back to the kitchen and cleans the table with Mina’s help, then returns to join everyone back in the living room. Dahyun was now fighting with Seungyeon over what channel to leave the TV on; the ex-hunter was winning solely on the argument that pro-wrestling would at least keep people awake until midnight.

Chaeyoung takes more pictures and Nayeon is forced to ask. “You planning on posting those?”

“Huh? Oh!” Chaeyoung blushes, caught. “Not really. It’s mostly just for me.”

“You’ve been taking a lot of pictures since you got here.” Nayeon teases. “At least send me the ones where Mina’s face is weird.”

Chaeyoung giggles. “Will do.” She doesn’t elaborate much, but eventually says. “I just don’t want to regret anything else, I think.”

 _Heavy topic at hand, got it._ Nayeon thinks. “Regret?”

“Yes. I…” Chaeyoung bites her lower lip, debating if she should say it. She decides that this will just bring the mood down and shakes her head. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s okay, Chaeng.” Nayeon puts a hand on her arm, rubbing slightly. “I’ll listen.”

Muscle memory tells Chaeyoung that she really could tell Nayeon anything. Maybe it was all those ancient times they spent together. With a sigh, Chaeyoung relents. “I never managed to take pictures of Tzuyu.”

“Oh.”

“And it’s just… I know her face is on the internet. I could just type ‘Tzuyu stream’ and someone would have saved a few clips of her, but… it’s not the same. I don’t know, I’m not making sense.”

“No, you are.” Nayeon averts her gaze in understanding. “You don’t want to forget. I get that.”

“Yes. You never know.” Chaeyoung looks down at her phone, scrolling through the pictures she took tonight. Everyone looked so happy and comfortable.

Nayeon tries to picture Jihyo amongst the smiley faces, but fails terribly. Maybe she should have taken a picture, too.

“You’re good, Chaeng.” Nayeon feels compelled to say. The doctor looks up at her, and Nayeon smiles. “You’re healing.”

The word makes her chuckle through the knot in her throat. “I hope so.” And after a pause. “You know, I never did answer you.”

“Hm?”

“My Vermillon bias. It’s you, actually.”

Nayeon feels like she’s going to cry, but before she can bury Chaeyoung in a hug, Dahyun interrupts them.

“Hey guys, it’s midnight!” Dahyun says suddenly, then turns around to face everyone. “Merry Christmas!”

Nayeon shoots them a toothy grin, getting up from her seat. She looks around, at each and every person, committing their faces to memory, burning this moment in her brain. She loves them all. And she would protect them with her life, through eternity.

“Merry Christmas, everyone. Thank you for being here.”

They all take a glass of champagne and clink their glasses together with a cheer.

Nayeon looks up as she feels the bubbles in her tongue.

_Merry Christmas, Sana. Momo. Tzuyu._

She closes her golden eye, and hopes that her thoughts reach even the person who doesn’t exist anymore.

_You too, Jihyo._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for the wonderful year, and happy holidays everyone ✨


End file.
